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Sept. 18, 2011. "God's Rules are Different: Thankfully."
Matthew 20: 1-16
No one said being faithful to God was easy, especially if we are expecting special treatment, recognition or reward for all our heard work and efforts. This morning’s parable is very clear; God does not operate that way. No matter what we may think or feel. No matter how much we may complain and think it is not fair, this is the way it is; God’s rules are different.
Initially this may seem unfair and unjust, as we wonder where the reward or pay-off is for being faithful. In our frustration we may want to, like those who worked all day in the field, lament, or complain or even while a little, but if we are open and can take a step back, we will discover a deeper appreciation for why God does what God does.
Just like last Sunday’s Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, today’s story is not to be taken literally. At the same time the beauty of the parable is the way it hooks us. It is something to which we can relate; work and compensation. But relating to a parable does not always lead to agreeing with it.
This parable is not about a fair wage or just recompense for work done. In fact, it goes
against our sensibilities of what is just and fair, and this is a danger for any of us hearing
the parables and trying to make sense of them as twenty-first century Christians.
(Charlotte Dudley Cleghorn, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg.92)
According to our expectations the story seems unfair because we believe it is unfair of the landowner to treat all of the workers equally. We believe those who work longer and harder deserve more. They deserve extra. We believe this is so because we want it to be so. In reality this is not so. The hardest workers in our society are not the best compensated. In many ways they may not even be fairly compensated.
What is so is how the assumptions we carry influence our expectations. There is a saying:
“Assumptions are planned resentments.” Whenever we assume anything, we set
ourselves up for possible disappointment or even worse, as we set the other person,
place or thing up as the object of our disappointment, anger or resentment.
(Charlotte Clerghorn, pg.94)
We can all think of situations where this is true. The Smother’s Brothers made millions using one simple line “Mom always liked you best.” We all remember how we by complaining diminished what we have or received, as we fail to recognize the ways we have been affirmed and blessed.
So what is this parable about?
This parable is essentially about the generosity of God. It is not about equity or proper disbursement of wages but about a gracious and undeserved gift. It is not about economic exchange but rather, about a bestowing of grace and mercy to all, no matter what they have
put in or how deserving we may think them to be. God’s generosity often violates our sense
of right and wrong, our sense of how things would be if we ran the world. (Cleghorn, pg. 96)
If we really stopped and thought about it, this is truly good news; something to celebrate and give thanks for.
The parable is about a different way of seeing our relationships with God, our neighbor and even ourselves, as we base these relationships, not on our assumptions, but God’s. The first assumption is that God wants everyone working in the vineyard which means God wants everyone in the kingdom.
God’s other assumptions:
o God loves each of us and all of creation deeply and profoundly.
o I (we) and all others are made in the image of God.
o God’s generosity is beyond our wildest imagination.
o There is nothing I (we) can do to earn or deserve God’s generosity.
(Cleghorn, pg. 94)
Embracing these assumptions allows us to address our feelings of envy which lead to jealousy and our need to be in competition. In today’s story, much like in our own lives, the laborers envy becomes more important than what they received. Their whining prevents them from recognizing what they received and the landowner calls them on this when he asks, Are you envious because I am generous? (Cleghorn, pg. 94) The answer is of course, yes.
What they were envious of is the same thing that we are envious of, which is the same thing those in the early church were envious of, God not liking them more or best. The response of those who labored all day and feel cheated “you have made them equal to us.” (v.12) takes us to the real issue, superiority. Those who worked hardest and longest want to be seen as superior. The parable tells them they are not.
This parable painfully unmasks the deep presuppositions that all too often form the ‘air
we breathe’ and shape our lives to such an extent that we cannot even imagine alternatives.
It exposes the fundamental metaphors that so often structure social relations: winner and
loser, superior and inferior, insider and outsider, honored and shamed.
(Charles Campbell, Feasting pg. 95-97)
The message is clear, with God there are no insiders and outsiders.
Our culture’s message is it is about appearance, achievement and affluence; what it is we can acquire, accumulate and influence. God’s message is, “those things don’t matter because I love and forgive all equally.” The irony is our inability to embrace and make peace with this message tells us just how much we benefit from this radical equality; how the fairness we call unjust heals and redeems us. As Kathryn Blanchard writes:
Reward comes not from each workers individual merit, not from the quantity or even
the quality of their labor, but rather from the gracious covenant offered by the one doing
the hiring.
Those workers who feel they deserve better must be reminded of the master’s generosity
in letting them work at all. (Blanchard, Feasting, pg. 94 - 96)
The hope is this generosity will lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to be God’s children. It is hoped that such understanding will hopefully give rise to humility and gratitude as we come to see how God’s love and generosity for others does not diminish God’s love and generosity toward us. Such seeing frees us to make our peace with the wisdom of a God who thankfully does not play by our rules.
The only response to such seeing can be “thanks be to God for that.” Amen.
Sept. 11, 2011. "Paying Forgiveness Forward."
Matthew 18: 21-35
It has been said that if you want to fill a room tell folks you are talking about forgiveness; because forgiveness is a difficult and complex issue for all of us. I believe it is in many ways the most fundamental and universal challenge people face. This is why in many ways Peter’s question is our question.
Certainly today, September 11 is a day that many struggle with the issue of forgiveness. The emotion behind what happened 10 years ago is rekindled for many and if we are not careful can be manipulated into an unhealthy perpetuation of hatred and prejudice that leads to a call for revenge. In other ways 10 years is a benchmark that allows us to measure how well we forgive; not forget, forgive.
In some ways focusing on September 11 keeps the issue of forgiveness at a safe or safer distance. I say this because while part of the issue is how well we forgive or practice forgiveness as a community of faith, an equally important issue is how well we forgive as individuals. Few of us are “at peace in our skin” with the way we forgive. We either think we are too weak or wimpy or too harsh or cruel. We also have our laundry lists of people we can’t or won’t forgive. When it comes to these folks we want to put conditions on our forgiveness. They need to show some kind of remorse or do something to earn our forgiveness.
As with almost every other issue of life, our faith calls us to look at this issue of forgiveness differently than the world does. This is because we are called to understand forgiveness in the context of God’s grace and mercy; that is God’s forgiving us. Commenting on this, Kathryn Blanchard writes:
Peter makes explicit the perennial question that plagues all Christians in all times and
places: When may we stop forgiving those who offend us repeatedly? Christians since
the early church have constantly taken the meaning of Jesus’ answer- whether translated ‘seventy-seven’ or ‘seventy times seven’ – to be crystal clear: never. God is a God who
forgives completely and the body of Christ is called to do likewise.
(Kathryn Blanchard, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg.68)
As in all faith related issues what God calls us to do when it comes to forgiveness pushes beyond what we are prone to do, what comes naturally to us. There is a part of us that does not want God’s forgiveness to be unconditional, so we point to this morning’s parable and say it is not. Doing this is a mistake; a misinterpretation of the parable. This morning’s parable is not to be taken literally. It relies on hyperbole to show the magnitude of God’s love. The point is not that God will punish us if we don’t forgive; but rather our inability to forgive happens when we don’t appreciate the magnitude of God’s forgiveness and love. Given the opportunity to experience God’s grace and mercy and to be mindful of it, the unforgiving servant chooses to cheapen it. In so doing he fails to pay forgiveness forward.
Those who truly understand the magnitude of God’s mercy must pay it forward to their
debtors. Faith in God, Luther insists, naturally brings forth acts of love toward the
neighbor. The servant’s unwillingness to forgive reveals his lack of gratitude, which
brings him crashing back to his own debt. (Blanchard, Feasting, pg.70)
Matthew’s Jesus is also clear that actual works of compassion are the true measure
of those who know God’s forgiveness. (Blanchard, pg. 72)
I believe we can have a greater appreciation for God’s forgiveness when we have a clearer understanding of what is and is not forgiveness.
o Forgiveness does not mean we excuse the evil acts perpetuated against us.
o Forgiveness does not mean that we can’t or shouldn’t defend ourselves.
o Forgiveness does not mean we condone destructive behavior.
o Forgiveness does not mean we must reconcile ourselves with the perpetrator.
o Forgiveness means we take stock of what has happened, we grieve our losses, and we deliberately make the world a better place by not repaying violence for violence.
(Dr. Fredric Luskin, Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness)
This is why forgiveness is a choice.
To forgive is to make a conscious choice to release the person who has wounded us from
the sentence of our judgment, however justified that judgment may be. It represents a
choice to leave behind our resentment and desire for retribution, however fair such
punishment may seem… Forgiveness involves excusing persons from the punitive
consequences they deserve because of their behavior. The behavior remains condemned,
but the offender is released from its effects as far as the forgiver is concerned.
Forgiveness means the power of the original wound’s power to hold us trapped is broken.
(Marjorie J. Thompson, “Moving toward Forgiveness,” Weavings, March – April 1992 pg.19)
I don’t believe one can truly forgive a part from God’s love, grace and mercy; in part because while our deciding to forgive is a choice, dealing with the pain and sorrow is a process. It takes time as we learn to let go of the hurt and begin to weave the pain and sorrow into the tapestry of our lives.
It is rightly said that it is important for us to forgive another as a way of relieving ourselves from the resentment that hurts us far more than the one whom we cannot forgive. It is now widely known that unforgiveness, or holding on to past hurts and resentments, deeply affects our emotional and physical health. (Charlotte Dudley Cleghorn, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg. 68)
Christian forgiveness however is about more than our well being. It is about practicing mercy and paving the way for healing; a healing that can only happen through the grace of God.
Forgiveness is risky business, but so much of the business God calls us to do and be about. Forgiveness makes us vulnerable; we may be rejected or hurt again. Forgiveness calls us to swallow our pride and others may try to take advantage. Forgiveness challenges us to love when we may not feel like loving.
When asked to teach his disciples to pray, Jesus included “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”; not because God’s forgiveness is conditional upon our forgiving, but because our unforgiveness is among those things about us that we need to have God forgive us for. The same pride that keeps us from forgiving is the same pride that keeps us from accepting forgiveness.
This is why it is only by accepting that we are forgiven far more than we deserve that we are able to truly forgive. Anything short of this understanding results in our placing ourselves in the judgment seat of the king who forgives, rather (than) in the hot seat of the unworthy servant who is forgiven. (Blanchard pg. 72)
Like it or not, my friends we are better off in the hot seat; for that is the seat from which we see the depth of God’s love and grace. That is the seat that frees us to pay forgiveness forward; not because we better or else, but because by doing so we and those we touch become more “at peace in their skin” every time we pay forgiveness forward.
Sept. 4, 2011. "God's Everyday Love."
Romans 13: 8-10
When you think about those closest to you, do you first and foremost love them or do you believe in them? We love them; and when this love is at its best, or deepest or purest, it is more than emotional or romantic or sentimental love. It is a genuine concern for the other; a concern that allows us to put their needs first. Such a love makes everything else possible, forgiveness, trust, care and concern for the other’s well being. This kind of love is the closest we can come to duplicating the love God offers the world. It is what Paul is describing in this morning’s passage; the kind of love Jesus calls us to offer the world when he reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We are called to offer this love, not out of a desire to do good, nor out of a desire to please God. We offer this love because we love God and out of our gratitude for the love God offers us. We love as a way of honoring or celebrating our relationship with God. When Paul wrote this and still for many today, this is a radical, new and revolutionary understanding because:
Love is now the measure of the law. Law must serve love of God and neighbor, not the
other way around. Law must bow down to the demands of love; it must carry love’s
desire for justice. With life-giving love as the measure of the law, love is free to obey
and to disobey when laws and authorities violate the demands of love.
(Eleazor S. Fernandez, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg. 40-42)
This is the meaning behind Paul’s words “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (v. 8)
Paul is very clear.
Love has very little to do with emotion. The examples of love to which he refers have
to do with behavior rather than feelings. Our neighbors will know we love them by how
we treat them, not be greeting card aphorisms.
(Rochelle A. Stackhouse, Feasting on the Word, (year A, Vol. 4, pg. 40)
Fredrick Buecnher describes such loving this way.
In the Christian sense, love is not primarily an emotion but an act of will. When Jesus
tells us to love our neighbors, he is not telling us to love them in the sense of responding
to them with a cozy emotional feeling. You can as well produce a cozy emotional feeling
on demand as you can a yawn or a sneeze. On the contrary, he is telling us to love our
neighbors in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being even if it means
sacrificing our own well being to that end, even if it means sometimes just leaving them
alone. Thus in Jesus’ terms we can love our neighbors without necessarily liking them.
In fact liking them may stand in the way of loving them by making us overprotective sentimentalists instead of reasonably honest friends. (Listening To Your Life, pg. 242)
Loving this way is very challenging in large part because, for a whole host of reasons, it is not our nature to live or love in this way. It can be said that God’s love runs contrary to human love. To paraphrase Fredrick Buechner; while we are capable of loving equals, our friends, siblings, those who live similar lives to us, and the less fortunate through acts of mercy and compassion, it is much more difficult to love the more fortunate, those who succeed where we fail and almost impossible to love our enemies. Yet this is exactly what we are called to do, everyday.
Certainly this love runs contrary to what our society values because
(W)hile love is the most powerful force in our world, it is also the most powerless.
It is the most powerful because it alone can conquer that final and most impregnable
stronghold which is the human heart. It is the most powerless because it can do nothing
except by consent. (Beuchner, Listening, pg. 302)
We are not encouraged to be vulnerable or to surrender. Those who do are seen as weak and powerless and we are told the weak and powerless cannot and will not succeed.
God does not call us to succeed. God calls us to be faithful; and the only way to be faithful is to love as God loves. But make no mistake; God’s love goes beyond our “just playing nice.” It goes beyond our being nice amid oppression or staying quiet amid injustice.
The love that does what is good to the neighbor is a love incarnate in the form of justice
or right relation; it is a love that establishes egalitarian practices; it is a love that subverts covetousness and greed.
(Fernansdez, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4, pg. 40)
This is just another reason why God’s love runs counter to our culture, for as William Sloane Coffin said, “This is why God’s love lies on the far side of justice, never on the near side.”
When it comes to the day to day, how do we love more fully and completely? I ask because it is easy for us to say we are pretty good at not doing wrong to our neighbor. We don’t do anything that cruel or mean or vicious or destructive. This may be true, but I don’t think that is the point. I believe what this scripture addresses runs deeper than that. Instead of focusing on the bad we don’t do, I think we are being challenged to understand it is about how often we do what is good. What it is we are doing to offer others a glimpse of God’s kingdom.
I believe we get at this when we ask those tough questions.
o How pro-active are we when it comes to issues of our day?
o What are we doing to overcome the temptation to always put our wants & needs in the forefront?
o How well are we widening our circle of compassion?
o Are we finding ways to not give in to what our culture says is imp, but instead beginning to understand how God heals and transforms us and then calls us to live out that transformation?
o Where do we draw our strength to remain faithful when it seems like what God’s desire for the world will never be?
I agree with Rochelle Stackhouse who wrote:
(We) have a greater sense of the truth that the Christian life is lived out day to day,
with each day presenting challenges and each day building on the one before, as we
journey toward being the people God has gifted us to be.
(Rochelle A. Stackhouse, Feasting, pg. 42)
I believe we have a better chance of remaining faithful in the journey when we remember that we don’t do it alone. God goes with us and before us, loving us before ever asking us to love one another. Such is the nature of God’s grace, God’s unconditional love.
Believing and trusting in this truth is what empowers the faithful to love. It always has and it always will. So, do not fear the call to love. Instead embrace it; for those who do begin to discover what God envisions not for some, but for all who strive everyday to love God and neighbor.
